Illusion of knowledge – know that you know nothing

Stephen Hawking famously said, “The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance; it is the illusion of knowledge.” Have you come across the question “What you don’t know that you don’t know?”. If not, then take a moment and try to think about the answer. Your reaction may be one of the below –

• How am I supposed to know that?
• Is it even important to know what I don’t know?
• How do I find out what I don’t know?

The answer to the question is ‘almost everything’. Meaning we don’t know that we don’t know almost everything. The below chart explains this in a simpler way. Our knowledge is predominantly restricted to things that we know and things that we know that we don’t know. The rest is either illusion of knowledge or simply ignorance.

1. What you know

This is the first level of knowledge and is simple to understand. These are things that you know that you know. We are generally aware of our likes and dislikes, our strengths and weaknesses, our favorite food, favorite music, etc. Over a period, we also develop a certain level of confidence about our knowledge in our areas of interest.

Example:

A salesperson in a company knows that he is good at selling and he can meet his monthly targets consistently.

2. What you know that you don’t know

This is the second level of knowledge, where one is aware of what he doesn’t know. This is also called the wisdom of ignorance. Apparently, knowing what you don’t know is more important than knowing what you already know.

Example:

The salesman knows that he is good at selling but lacks managerial abilities.  He knows that learning managerial skills can enhance his ability to manage a sales team and thus grow to the next level in his career

Benefits of knowing what you don’t know:

• Knowing what you don’t know is the prerequisite for learning. Only by knowing that you don’t know certain things, you can consciously search for opportunities to learn and grow in the areas of your interest
• You can be honest and reach out to others for help
• You set right expectations with people and don’t overcommit

3. What you don’t know that you don’t know

“The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don’t know.”

Albert Einstein

Only by increasing your knowledge do you get to know how much more you don’t know.

This is the third level of knowledge and no matter how much a person knows, there is always an infinite number of things to be learned. Interestingly, as the famous saying goes, “Half knowledge can be dangerous”. Not knowing what you don’t know can sometimes be dangerous as you may commit mistakes in areas where you are not aware of your incompetence.

Dunning-Krugger effect explains that people with less knowledge often tend to overestimate themselves. As shown in the chart below, the confidence level in a person has a non-linear relationship with the person’s competence level. Initially, the confidence level in a person jumps significantly as one acquires knowledge, and only after acquiring further knowledge does the person realize that he knows almost nothing and that’s when the confidence level drops. Post this realization the person must sustainably increase his knowledge to finally gain back a higher level of confidence.

Example of illusion of knowledge:

A beginner level trader in the stock market might feel confident about his trading skills after winning the initial few deals. At this stage, the person’s limited knowledge of the stock market tends to reduce the person’s ability to properly judge his own competence. At times, after making a few significant investment mistakes or losing money in the stock market, one realizes his own deficiencies. At this stage, the person gets to know that he doesn’t know much about stock trading. Thus, he can exercise greater caution in his future investments and seek further knowledge to enhance his trading skills.

Benefits of finding out what you don’t know that you don’t know:

• You can avoid potential mistakes
• You raise your knowledge and self-awareness
• You become receptive to new ideas

How do you find out what you don’t know?

For things that you think you know, it is often a good idea to take a step back and test your skills and validate your perception with reality.

For discovering the things that you don’t know, it is important to first realize that there is much you don’t know. Then keep yourself open to learning new things and new perspectives.

Below listed are some ways to get outside in perspective:

• A personal coach can help you get more clarity about yourself and identify your blind spots
• Being part of a network or group where like-minded people discuss and share their views
• 360-degree feedback from colleagues, subordinates, and managers at work
• Personality assessment tests to learn about your personality type (Refer “16 personality types”)

Conclusion

“Admitting one’s ignorance is the first step in acquiring knowledge.”

Socrates

One of the objectives of life is to continuously acquire knowledge and reduce our ignorance.  Knowledge when implemented results in experience and experience brings us wisdom – our ability to make the right choices in life.

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References

Verywell Mind, https://www.verywellmind.com/an-overview-of-the-dunning-kruger-effect-4160740

Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect